Vehicle-spring.



F. H. HOPKINS & e. B. DIUREY.

VEHICLE SPRING.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 30. $914.

Patented Jan 191?.

mmmi,

GEORGE El/YET 00/?EY WIT/755555 H M. m 7 m 5 raiogeai.

To all whom it may concern:

HOPKINS, resident of i/Vestmount, Prov- HAnTwEL norKms, or WESTMOUNT,AND cnoncn nmnr penny, or

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CAN'ADA;

VEHICLE-SPRING.

Be it. known that We, FRANK HARTWELL ince of Quebec, Canada, and GnoncnBINET Down, a resident of Montreal, Province of 1', Quebec, Ganada, bothsubjects of the King of Great Britain, have invented certain new anduseful Imprcvementsjn Vehicle- Springs, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to springs for use especially in connection withvehicles and for the purpose of neutralizing shocks and absorbingvibr-..:.tions to which the vehicle may be subjected, the constructionlllustrated by Way of example in the accompanying drawings beingparticularly applicable to the spring suspension of automobiles:

i The difiiculty of providing a spring deheavy shocks, is also of properflexibility to vice whicln, while being sufiiciently stifi' toconstitute an adequate support and take up absorb minor vibrations, hasbeen overcome ina degree by the combination of springs of different.strengths. The disadvantage of these compound spring devices is that,being adjusted to meet certain conditions as to load and shock, the trueefficiency is only obtained under such conditions and it is an object ofthe present invention to provide an improved compound spring device andone for overcoming the above mentioned v I disadvantage by automaticallyadjusting the tension ofthe springs as the load and shock vary.

The above with additional objects and advantages will be hereinaftermore fully described and particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

( For full comprehension, however, of our invention reference should behad to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, inwhich similar reference I characters indicate the same parts and whereinFigure 1 IS a sectional view of our 1mproved shock absorber as apphed toa vehicle,, the section being taken in the longitudina-l line ofthelatter; Figs. 2 and 3 are enla g d r cti nal views i ustrat g if-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented an. a, rear.

Application filed Dctober 30, 1914. Serial No. 869,4e9;

ferent positions of the device; and Fig. L is a transverse section online 4-4 1.

lnthe drawings 2 indicates the rear axle of a vehicle and 3 the bodyportionvvhich is outlined in dotted lines.

Between the body and axle 2 and respectively carried by such members aresprings or other elastic mediums of difierent strengths, connected tther and caused re co-act through the med on of a difl a; leverarrangement which autornaticaliy adjusts the springs in accordance withroad conditions and load as will be presently fully described.

Although any suitable detail construction may be utilized, our preferredcfonstruction consists of a downturnedlaminated spring 4 extendingrearwardly from the body and a helical spring device carried by theaxlethrough an arm connected to the latter and consisting in this instanceof an upturned longitudinally extending laminated spring 5 opposed tospring 1-, connected betvveen its ends to the axle and linked atjt'sfront end to the body at 6.

The helical spring device consists of a pair of springs 7 encirclingbolts 8 and bearing between a bottom plate 9 and atop rod 10 locatedbeneath spring 5 and having one leaf of the latter clasping it as at 12between its ends. The plate 9 is secured by nuts to the lower ends ofthe bolts and rod 10 has holes 13 therein at the sides of the spring 5,through which holes the bolts loosely pass to positions on oppositesides of and above the spring, the upper ends of such bolts beingpivotally connected to a lever 14: which bears upon the top of spring 5and has its rear end pivotally connected to the body spring 4. Theshocks sustained by the axle and spring 5 are transmitted to the helicalsprings through the lever 14, the front end of which latter being atsuch times caused to rise and compress the springs 7, said lever havinga shifting fulcrum and being adapted to automatically change its bearingpoint to vary in accordance with varying conditions, the leverageexerted upon the helical springs.

The difi'erential lever as illustrated consists of a pair of sidemembers or plates 16 connected'by ,a' transversely extending web 17located above the spring 5 and presenting a lower-convexed surface, thepivotal connec tion between the front ends of the side plates andtheupper ends of the bolts 8 being secured by, a pin 18 whichpasses acrossthe top of spring 5' and through alined eyes in the connected members.The rear ends of the side plates are preferably enlarged and supportnear .the bottom a the body spring is connected, the upper portionsofsuch enlarged ends each being forme'd'with a slot 20 curvedconcentrically withpin 18, and accommodating one end of a pin21'carrying the rear end of spring 5.

Upon the occurrence of slight vibrations the lever 14 rocks upon theconvex surface of the web 17 lever thus lightly compressing the helicalsprings, but 'under more severe shocks or when an increased load isbeing sustained the lever rocksuntil one of a series of rollers 22 isbrought into contact with the abutment-constituted by spring 5. Therollers are mounted upon pins 23 connected to the plates, placed atvarying distances above the spring and disposed in a line extendingrearwardly from the web 17 and curving. upwardly away from the abutmentthus combilling with the web 17 to form a convex bearing surface for thelever so that as the leveris rocked upwardly the fulcrum point iscorrespondingly moved away from the .front endof age in proper degree toabsorb the increased shock.

Thefrollers 22 act independently of each other andprovide separatefulcrum points in accordance with conditions and effectively avoid thepossibility of stiff spring suspension forthe reason that as each of theroll-.

'ers engages with the abutment and provides for the necessary resiliencyof the springs a rolling movement is permitted around the fulcrum pointproper constituted by the pin 23 thus permitting a certain free movementof the lever which enables the springs to give under the vibrations ofthe vehicle without altering the tension of the springs When the loadunchanged. I

The minor shocks are taken up by the springs 7 but I have provided adownturned laminated spring 24 opposed to spring 5 and which is securedto the axle 2 and extends rearwardly therefrom between the springs 7 andspaced a short distance above plate 9 when in its normal position sothat as conditions call for greater spring tension and the leverageincreases, plate9 will be drawn up against the spring 24, the latter andspring 5 drawn toward each other and the resistance of the helicalsprings a111,,-

or shock conditions remain pin 19 to which a and raises the front end ofthe the lever to increase the lever naion'ai mented. The spring 2 1 andthe contacting surfaces of the spring 5 and lever 14: serve to dampenthe recoil of the springs.

As the load increases owing to a more violent shock or greater weight inthe vehicle and the lever rocks and shifts its fulcrum rearwardlyalongspring 5, the load upon springs 4 and 5 is increased and that uponsprings 7 and 24 correspondingly decreased until suchtime as the loadincreases beyond that to which the latter springs are adjusted, when thedownward movement of the rear end of the lever brings the tops of the,slots 20 into engagement with pin 21 and providesa direct shacklebetween springs 4 and 5 whereby these stiffer springs take up the entireload.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the tension of the springs isautomatically increased as the load placed thereon becomes greater andobviously as the load decreases and under all fluctuations thereof thespring tension will be likewise varied in the proper degree.

What we claim is as follows:

1. The combination with a pair of relatively movable parts, ofspringscarried respectively by shifting fulcrum and connecting the springs,such lever including a series of elements movable with relation to thelever and constituting fulcrum points for the latter.

2. The combination with a pair of. rela tively movable parts, of aspring connected to one of said parts and a, leverconnected to the otherof said parts and to the spring, the lever including a series ofelements movable with relation to the lever and constituting fulcrumpoints for the latter. I

3. The combination with a pair of relatively movable parts, of alaminated spring carried by one of the parts, a helical spring carriedby the laminated spring, cated at each side of the laminated spring andconnected to the helical spring, a pin and slot connection betweentheplate s and tively movable parts, of a laminated spring carried byone of the parts, a helical spring carried by the laminated spring, aplate lo-' cated at each side of the laminated spring, and connected tothe helical spring, a'pin and slot connection between the plates andlaminated spring, the laminated spring and connecting the a plate 10- aweb extending across said parts and a lever having a parts and at theopposite end to one of said opposed spring elements and adapted to bearthe-plates; vgsuch webaiidt rollers being' adapted to successivelywbearupon the-laminated spring and ',normally 'extendin'gin ia'curved I lineoutwardly from "the latter "and a second laminated spring connectingthe-plates: and ",bo'dy' portion andthe' axle of an upturned the othermovablepart; f

5. In a vehicle, the combination with the body thereof and the axle, ofa spring carried by the body, a spring carried by the axle and a leverhaving a shifting fulcrum and connecting the Springs, such lever causingthe springs to co-act one with the other and being adapted to vary thetension of same as the fulcrum shifts.

6. The combination with a pair of relatively movable parts, of a springcarried by one of said parts, a second spring carried by the first, athird spring carried by the other of said parts and a lever connectingthe second and third springs and having a with the'second spring and atthe opposite end with the other of said movable parts,

a such lever having a shifting fulcrum upon the first mentioned spring.

8. The combination with a pair of relatively movable parts, of a pair ofopposed spring elements carried by one of said parts and a lever havinga shifting fulcrum, being connected at one end to the other of said uponthe other spring element.

9.xflhe-combination with a pair of relatively"\movable parts, of a leverhaving a shifting fulcrum and being connected to one of the parts, anabutment for the lever co'nnected to the other part' and a combinationof a helical spring and a laminated spring yieldingly resisting therocking of the lever and maintaining same in normal position.

- 10. The combination with a pair of-relatively movable parts, of alaminated spring carried by one of said parts, a helical spring carriedby said laminated spring, a lever havinga shifting fulcrum, beingconnected at opposite'ends to said helical spring and the other of saidparts and adapted to bear upon said laminated spring, and a pin and slotconnectionbetween the lever and laminated spring.

- 11. The combination with apair ofrelatively movable parts, of a springconnected 7 ing the springs and acting upon one of said to one of theparts, a lever having a shiftin proportion to the relative, movements ofthe p rt and. an abutment for the lever,

fumes from the abutment iupen' are adapted to" successivelyfbea 12. in avehiclejthe comb" aid -sates laminated spring carriedby the axle andextending longitudinally of the vehicle with its forward end linkedtothe body portion, a pin carried at the rear end of the spring, a barsecured beneath the spring, bolts passing loosely through the bar atopposite sides of the spring, a plate carried by the bolts and vspacedfrom the bar, helical springs encircling the bolts and bearing betweenthe plate and bar, a downturned laminated spring carried by the axle andextending rearwardly of the latter between the helical springs andspaced above said plate in its normal position, rearwardly extendingplates at the sides of the upturned spring and pivotally connected nearone of their endsand above said bar, to the bolts,'the opposite ends ofsuch plates having slots therein curved concentrically with such pivotsand accommodating the pin carried by the upturned laminated spring, aweb exh th y tending between and connecting the plates,

such web being curved away from and adapted to bear upon the uppersurface of the upturned spring, a series of rollers carried by saidplates and extending rearwardly from the web in a line curving away fromthe spring and a downturned laminated spring carried by the body portionof the vehicle and pivotally connected to the rear ends of said plates.13. The combination with a pair of relatively movable parts, of alaminated spring carried by one of the parts, a lever having a shiftingfulcrum and being connected to.

one end of the laminated spring and a coiled spring carried by the otherof the parts and yieldingly resisting the action of the lever.

14:. In a vehicle, the combination with the body and the axle, of aspring adapted to springs, the other of said springs permitting amovement of the vehicle body independently of the movement of the lever.

16. In a vehicle, the combination with the body and axle, of a springconnected to the names to this specification, in the presence body, aspring connected to the axle and a of two subscribing Witnesses. I Ilever connected to one of the springs and FRANK HARTWELL HOPKINS.bearing upon the other of said springs, the GEORGE BINET DOREY.I

5 bearing point of the lever upon said spring Witnessesr V p a beingmovable with relation to the spring. a STANLEY 0, KING,

In testimony whereof, We have signed our JAMES C. FRASER.

